After finishing their meal, Grace and Scarlett left the restaurant first. Richard and Harry remained seated inside, unable to snap out of their daze for a long while.

  After a while, Harry murmured, "How does it feel so unreal? It's like a dream!"

  Richard felt exactly the same way. Even though Grace had said she was "gambling," the gamble felt immense, almost reckless, didn't it?

  They had only just added each other on LetsChat yesterday.

  Coming back to his senses, Harry looked at Richard and asked, "Why did you voluntarily give up another 10 percent? Grace said 30-70!"

  Richard glanced at him and replied calmly, "She's bearing all the risk. She's betting on us so decisively. It's only right we take less. Besides, even if we secured investment from a major corporation, we'd likely get at most twenty percent. So why take advantage of Grace? She's an outsider who doesn't understand these things; we shouldn't be without conscience."

  Harry scratched his head awkwardly, belatedly agreeing, "Yeah, you're right."

  "Don't you have that tutoring gig? Shouldn't you get going?"

  Harry jolted and quickly checked the time. "Oh crap, I almost forgot! I'm off then."

  Richard nodded and cautioned him, "Let's keep the good news to ourselves for now. Don't spread it until we've signed a proper contract with Grace. I'm worried something might go wrong and get everyone's hopes up for nothing."

  Harry indicated he understood, slung his backpack over his shoulder, and hurried away.

  Meanwhile, having just finished lunch at a cheap diner costing less than five cents per person, Grace and Scarlett had now moved on to an upscale dessert shop for afternoon tea, where the per-person cost was measured in dimes.

  Scarlett had been asking about Grace's sudden investment decision the whole way. Grace finally told her, "That project by Senior Richard was actually rejected by Vance Corp."

  "Really?" Scarlett was slightly startled.

  Grace recounted the events of the previous night to Scarlett, whose eyes grew wide with astonishment.

  "My dad just kicked them out like that?"

  Grace nodded, though she could understand. A father worried about his daughter wouldn't have been in the mood to handle business, and Richard's approach had indeed been rather abrupt.

  Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.

  The timing and the method were both off; it was no surprise it didn't work out.

  "And you just went ahead and invested that much money, just like that? Do you really believe they'll succeed?"

  Holding a delicate teacup, Grace smiled. "I've already invested. It's better to maintain an optimistic mindset, isn't it?"

  Scarlett leaned back on the sofa and sighed, her tone conflicted. "If they fail, I'll feel bad for you losing your money. If they succeed, I'll feel bad for my dad missing out."

  Grace smiled without comment. There was nothing for the Vances to regret. In the past timeline, they hadn't seized this opportunity either. Instead, it had benefited the Dylan Investment Group, allowing them to catch up and eventually surpass Vance Corp in the AI field a few years later, becoming the industry leader.

  As for her own willingness to invest in Richard's team, aside from their genuine talent, it was more a form of compensation from Grace.

  Because judging by the previous outcome, everyone on this team had gone on to promising careers after joining Dylan Investment Group—careers that had now been derailed because of her.

  So, she was willing to step in and nurture this team in place of the Dylans. She believed true talent would shine anywhere.

  "My brother asked me for your LetsChat info."

  Scarlett suddenly rolled her eyes and turned her phone screen toward Grace.

  It was a simple and direct approach. Douglas Vance had directly transferred "20 Dollars" to Scarlett with a message: "Good sister, pass me Grace's LetsChat."

  Grace couldn't help but chuckle lightly. "My LetsChat is quite valuable, huh. Take the money and pass it to him. It's 20 Dollars!"

  "Pfft." Scarlett curled her lip and immediately refunded the money. "No way. I'm not throwing you to the wolf."

  "He's still your cousin. You think that poorly of him?"

  "Yep," Scarlett affirmed without hesitation. "That guy only likes pretty girls. He chases anyone who's pretty, gets bored after a short while, dumps the compliant ones, and pays off the ones who aren't. He's shallow and a total jerk!"

  "I will absolutely not give him any opening with you. Seriously, he doesn't even hold a candle to Eric."

  Suddenly mentioning Eric, Scarlett quickly realized. "Mr. Dylan came yesterday. Did Eric come? Did you run into him?"

  Grace shook her head. "I saw his parents. He didn't come."

  Their last meeting was at the school cafeteria nearly half a month ago. She had deleted all of Eric's contact information, and these past days had been surprisingly peaceful.

  During this time, however, Eric had been in a very poor state.

  Grace's donation of the thousand-dollar-plus telescope to the school had been a significant blow and shock to him, even causing him to question his reality.

  He couldn't make sense of it, and it made him feel like he understood Grace even less.

  That evening, at the Dylan residence.

  The dinner table was laden with food. Eric looked haggard, eating mechanically. He had visibly lost weight and appeared listless.

  Mrs. Dylan watched with great heartache but couldn't bring herself to scold him. She simply ladled some mushroom soup for him. "Eric, drink more. Look how much weight you've lost lately."

  Eric picked up the bowl of soup, tilted his head back, and drank it all in one go. Then, without a word, he got up and went upstairs.

  Seeing his son in this state, Jeffrey Dylan felt a surge of anger. He slammed his fork down on the table with a "smack." "What kind of state is this!? If he continues like this, I'll really send him abroad!"

  "You dare!" Mrs. Dylan retorted anxiously. "He's my only son. He's not going anywhere."

  Jeffrey snorted coldly. "Moping around like a walking corpse over that Grace girl. If we don't remove him from this environment, do we let him stay like this forever?"

  "But you can't send Eric away! Can't you use some means for our son's sake, make that Grace leave Aethelburg?"

  "What means? Kidnapping? Coercion? Threats? Bribery?"

  Mrs. Dylan's eyes reddened with urgency. "Can't we?"

  Jeffrey was almost amused by the absurdity. He looked at his wife and shook his head, speechless. "You... what am I going to do with you!?"

  "Anything for my son, I'd do it."

  "Here, I'll hand you a knife. Go kill Grace then!" Jeffrey said angrily.

  Hearing this, Mrs. Dylan felt wronged. "You only know how to be tough with me. Then think of a solution yourself! It's been almost half a month. Thank goodness Eric still eats. If he lost his appetite, he'd probably be dead by now!"

  Jeffrey took a deep breath. "This is all on you. Eric and that Grace girl had just started dating when you broke them up. They were in the honeymoon phase! You should have just let him date. Isn't it normal to have a few girlfriends in college? It's not like he was marrying her home. Why did you react so strongly?"

  "And now? A sudden, cliff-edge breakup. Eric's in shock. Now you're panicking?"

  Mrs. Dylan was now somewhat regretful. If she had known her son would end up like this after the breakup, she definitely wouldn't have done it.

  Seeing his wife silent, Jeffrey couldn't bear to blame her further. After a moment's thought, he said, "It takes the one who tied the knot to untie it. In my opinion, you should go talk to Grace again. Apologize to her. Tell her you agree to let her and Eric continue dating."